Cleaning of hard surfaces, such as floors (vinyl, linoleum, tile, cement), countertops, showers, etc. is well known in the art. Cleaning may be accomplished using cellulosic paper towels and non-woven sheets, as are well known in the art. Nonwoven sheets may be made according to commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,936,330 and/or 6,797,357. Cellulosic paper towels may be made according to commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,191,609 and/or 4,637,859.
Such sheets have been removably attached to manual implements. The implements increase reach, and improve ergonomics. For example, when the hard surface to be cleaned is a floor, the implement allows the user to clean from a standing position, improving comfort over cleaning from a crouched position or on the knees. Manual implements may be made according to commonly assigned US 2012/0096662; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,305,046 and/or D588,770.
One problem encountered when cleaning floors is that a user can encounter tacky soils, which tend to stick to the floor, and/or encounter a variety of fine soils, such as dust, granular soils, dried food debris, plants, mud, etc. which tend to stick to the floor less. To improve cleaning of soluble and tacky stains, wetted and wettable floor sheets have been used. Pre-wetted floor sheets include those having APG polymers, as disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,716,805. Wettable floor sheets have been used with the commercially available Swiffer WetJet® device. This device sprays cleaning solution onto the floor from a replaceable reservoir, as described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 8,186,898. Cleaning solution chemistry and a reservoir therefor may be made according to commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,386,392. Floor sheets which absorb cleaning solution from the floor may be made according to commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,960,508, 6,101,661 and/or 7,144,173.
But these attempts do not always sufficiently clean the entire range of soils encountered, particularly large particles, such as cereal and chunks of mud from the floor. To overcome the problem of loose, large particle cleaning, rotatable beater bars have been utilized, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,783, reissued Jun. 28, 1881; U.S. Pat. No. 306,008 issued Sep. 30, 1884; U.S. Pat. No. 329,257 issued Oct. 27, 1885; U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,927 issued Apr. 7, 1987; U.S. Pat. No. 7,134,161 issued Nov. 14, 2006. The beater bars in these teachings are driven by the wheels. Particularly, each of these references teaches plural wheels contacting the floor to be cleaned. The wheels drive the beater bar, obviating the need for a separate electric motor. Electric motors add cost and weight to the device. Split beater bars have also been used, as shown in 2005/0055792 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,134,161.
Many mechanical sweepers use beater bars comprising nylon bristles. Bristles may also be used on carpets, where bristles can help loosen hair. Bristles can be prone to hair/lint/thread wrapping which may degrade performance. Since mechanical sweepers rely on momentum for pick-up, contaminated bristles reduce cleaning capability. Additionally, bristles can separate, requiring higher rotational speed to reduce bristle separation, and minimize particles passing through the bristles. Accordingly, some beater bars use fins or blades.
Powered devices may have a beater bar which is battery powered or AC line powered to aid in picking up soil. These devices have higher rotational speeds and can be more effective than mechanically driven beater bars at picking up particles. But powered devices can be inconvenient if battery life is depleted or cord length is insufficient.
Devices which also use a disposable sheet to assist in cleaning are known as illustrated by EP 1027855; US 2009/0077761; U.S. Pat. No. 7,013,528; U.S. Pat. No. 7,346,428 and commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,676,877. The disposable sheet may be attached to the implement using grippers, as described in commonly assigned application Ser. No. 13/947,501, filed Jul. 22, 2013.
Exemplary 2009/0077761 shows the common arrangement of having a sheet attached to the bottom of the device. U.S. Pat. No. 7,013,528 teaches a floor cleaner having the sheet wrap from a dust cloth panel to the top of a base assembly. But this arrangement can be inconvenient for one installing and removing the sheet, since the panel and base assembly move independently of each other. U.S. Pat. No. 7,346,428 requires the entire sheet to wrap the dusting pad 40, in order to intercept engagement members 76. This arrangement can be inconvenient as all four corners of the sheet are attached internal to the dusting pad 40. The engagement members 76 proximate to the hinges may be difficult to reach. EP 1027855 exacerbates this teaching with a removable cloth holder support 53 with two flaps 55. By being removable from the head, the support 53 can be misplaced or not properly refitted into position. Further, this arrangement does not allow for the cleaning sheet to wrap the front or back edge of the head to clean against walls/baseboards. Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,676,877 teaches a cleaning implement having a pivotable bottom wall 455 to which a cleaning substrate may be attached. This arrangement has the pivotable wall entirely on the bottom of the device, potentially making it inconvenient to attach a sheet using ordinary grippers at the corners, as is common in the art.
Furthermore, it is not desirable to have an edge of the cleaning sheet directly on the floor. If the edge of the cleaning sheet does not wrap the device, snow-plowing of debris and/or dis-engagement of the sheet may occur.
Clearly a better approach is needed.